Feb. 10, 2012 (China Knowledge) - China, the world's largest iron ore importer and steel maker, saw its iron ore import fell 13.9% year on year to 59.32 million metric tons in January last year, according to latest statistics released by the General Administration of Customs.

The iron ore import last month reflected a 7.4% decline from the previous month.

The average import price of iron ore dropped 10.9% year on year to US$136.5 per metric ton in January.

The country exports 3.73 million metric tons of steel products in January, 19.9% more than that in the same period of 2011, but saw its imports of steel products fall 44% to 920,000 metric tons in the corresponding year.